LACFD Taps Silver Lake Reservoir to Battle Wild Fires

Since the Silver Lake Reservoir was refilled earlier this year, the Los Angeles County Fire Department (LACFD) has tapped water from the iconic reservoir to fight wildfires on three occasions. For decades, LACFD’s water-dropping helicopters have pumped up water to drop on area fires, but firefighters were not able to turn to the reservoir when it was drained from 2015 to 2017. LACFD’s Air Operations Unit typically fields seven helicopters, outfitted with 350-gallon tanks ready for deployment as fire attack resources.